GREENFIELD — Three days after Hancock County reported its biggest daily rise in COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, most people in Greenfield appeared Monday to be complying with the state’s new mask mandate.
But that didn’t necessarily mean they supported it.
The Indiana State Department of Health added 23 novel coronavirus cases to Hancock County’s total on Friday, July 24, the most since 22 were added on April 27.
Dr. Sandra Aspy, Hancock County health officer, said the county’s recent spike is reflective of rising cases across Indiana and the U.S.
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“It isn’t as high of a spike as what’s going on in the state and around the area,” she added.
Aspy also said more younger people are testing positive for the disease.
Gov. Eric Holcomb’s executive order regarding face coverings went into effect Monday, July 27, and lasts through Aug. 26. Face coverings over the nose and mouth are now required in many environments, including inside businesses, public buildings and other indoor places open to the public. Exceptions include private work spaces or meetings in which 6 feet of social distancing can be achieved. To read the order in its entirety, visit in.gov/gov/2384.htm.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Indiana State Department of Health say face coverings can help prevent wearers, who may not know they have the disease, from spreading it through their respiratory droplets.
Aspy said she understands why some may oppose wearing a mask, but encourages them to do so.
“I think part of it comes from the initial confusion that there wasn’t clear guidance at the start of the pandemic that masks were helpful, so a lot of the skepticism comes from that,” she said. “But I think that very clearly the scientific guidance does show that masks do help prevent the spread of the (respiratory) droplets.”
Pat Griffin, who lives in Indianapolis but works in Greenfield, wore a face mask that said “Indy” as she picked up dry cleaning at Worland Cleaners Monday morning in Greenfield.
“I totally support it,” Griffin said of the new rule, “because I understand the significance of wearing masks and how that cuts down on people getting the virus.”
Face coverings are uncomfortable and difficult to get used to, she said, but worth it in the end. Griffin and her husband started wearing masks in public before the order went into effect
“I think it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “I think it needs to continue for a while.”
Inside Jack’s Donuts, manager Linda Holmes said she supports the mask mandate.
“We got to do whatever we have to do to get through this and get rid of it,” Holmes said. “Whatever it takes.”
Employees have had to wear masks while working since before the mandate, she said.
“I leave every day, grab my apron, grab a clean mask for the day; it’s part of life,” Holmes said. “It’s a new way of life… we have to adjust to it.”
She said a couple customers came in without masks Monday morning and that she waited on them, but informed them of the state’s new rule and urged them to comply the next time they come in.
Don Mills of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, had his surgical mask pulled down as he enjoyed his doughnut and iced coffee at a table outside. The Shepherd University mathematics and statistics professor stayed the night in Greenfield on his way back from visiting his father in Illinois.
“On the whole, I think it’s an overreaction,” Mills said of the mask rule. “But with the mandate in place, certainly, you want to, for the sake of others and for the sake of local businesses, comply so far as you’re able and willing to comply.”
He believes the notion that face coverings slow the spread of COVID-19 lacks evidence.
Joni Bloom, an attendant at Green Meadows Laundry, said through her mask that the laundromat had yet to have any complaints from customers about the mandate.
She said she supports requiring people to wear masks in many environments, adding she has health issues.
“The safer they are, the safer I am,” she said.
Bloom said the laundromat didn’t require customers to wear masks before the state did, but added some patrons have worn them throughout the pandemic. Over the weekend, she saw a lot more wearing them, she said.
“Everybody’s getting ready,” Bloom said.
Brooke Bordenkircher and her four young children masked up outside of McCleerey’s Sporting Goods before heading in to get football equipment for one of her sons. She feels the new rule on face coverings is excessive and that other measures like social distancing, frequent hand cleaning and staying home when sick are enough to stem the spread of the virus.
It’s difficult for her kids to understand why masks are needed, Bordenkircher said, adding at times they’re more interested in using the elastic bands to fling them. She’s also concerned what effect masks will have in school on topics like reading, phonics and pronunciation.
“I don’t think we really need to have a mask,” she said. “…I feel like we’re just a little bit overkill on it.”
The mask order has seen its share of skepticism from elected officials in the Republican Party, including Hancock County’s Board of Commissioners. The commissioners have sent a letter to Holcomb and to Hancock County’s representatives in the state legislature outlining their objections to the executive order.
In the letter, signed by each of the three commissioners, they express the viewpoint that the mask mandate is being applied unfairly to areas like Hancock County with lower rates of COVID-19, and is not the “least restrictive means” of protecting public health.
“We believe the most recent Executive Order mandating face masks throughout the state may run afoul of each individual’s Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of due process and equal protection,” the letter reads. “A prohibition of this nature under the guise of emergency power cannot be arbitrary, oppressive, and unreasonable under well-settled case law.”
The commissioners requested an amended executive order allowing counties to make their own decisions on mask requirements.
“We know we can proceed with judicial review of this matter. However, we would prefer to pursue a less acrimonious resolution. A balance must be struck between the rights of our citizens with the measures taken to ensure the public health. However, the balance has now tipped too far, and no longer meets the definition of the least restrictive means of protecting our Citizens,” the letter reads.
Commissioner John Jessup said he hopes the governor will respond and speak with them about pursuing a solution.
At Greenfield city hall, masks will be required for all visitors to the building, including at public meetings. City hall employees are required to wear masks in common areas, said Chuck Anderson, assistant to Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell.
County employees will continue to follow the same procedure, wearing masks when interacting with the public and requesting that visitors to their office wear masks and follow social distancing. Masks will not be required at commissioners’ meetings.
“The Board of Commissioners will not be enforcing a mask mandate that we feel overreaches executive power,” Jessup said.
Personally, Jessup said, he believes lockdown procedures have caused more harm, including damage to the economy, the early release of jail inmates, and difficulty seeking treatment for other medical conditions, than COVID-19 itself.
“We need to quit talking about a new normal, and we need to get back to normal,” Jessup said.
Jessup said he worried the mask mandate was a step toward rolling back Indiana’s reopening plan and closing businesses again, which he said would be an overreaction to the problem the state is facing.
Jessup said any increase in the county’s cases could be attributed to an increase in testing. The county’s positivity rate has fluctuated from day to day over the past months, but remained under 15%.
“People die every day. People get sick every day. COVID is not special in that respect,” Jessup said.
Rep. Bob Cherry, R-Greenfield, one of the representatives the commissioners’ letter was sent to, had a different opinion. Cherry said he did not like the idea of a mandate, but he thinks the executive order’s encouragement of face covering and greater education is a good thing.
“Based on the spread of the virus, we’ve got to do a better job,” Cherry said. “I personally don’t like a mask either, but I don’t want someone to give it to me and I don’t want to give it to someone.”
While Cherry said regulations to fight COVID-19 would ideally be set on the county level, he has heard from some county officials who are reluctant to set policy and prefer that it comes from the governor’s office.
Cherry said concern about the pandemic should not come to an end. While younger people who get the virus mostly will not get severely ill, he said, they can give it to older people, many of whom have died without being able to see their children or spouse.
Indiana has now seen over 2,700 deaths, Cherry said, “and one is too many.”
Jessica Karins of the Daily Reporter staff contributed to this story
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COVID-19 Data
Hancock County
- 580 cases
- 37 deaths
- 8,898 tests
- 11 new cases on July 26
- 0 new deaths
- 114 new tests between July 18 and 25
Indiana
- 62,907 cases
- 2,709 deaths
- 707,791 tests
- 561 new cases on July 26
- 3 new deaths between July 24 and 26
- 6,595 tests between June 18 and July 26
Source: Indiana State Department of Health as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, July 26
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